Hayek on a Pre-Announced “Total Income Stream”

“The moment there is any sign that the total income stream may actually shrink, I should certainly not only try everything in my power to prevent it from dwindling, but I should announce beforehand that I would do so in the event the problem arose.”*

The view echoes Hayek positions and arguments from the 1920 & 1930s.

Hayek may be winning another one.

“The moment there is any sign that the total income stream may actually shrink [during a post-bust deflationary crash], I should certainly not only try everything in my power to prevent it from dwindling, but I should announce beforehand that I would do so in the event the problem arose.”

*UPDATE: The quote from F. A. Hayek was made in reply to a question from his old friend Gottfried Haberler in a talk given at the American Enterprise Institute in 1975.

Brian Caplan once made a great point when he said something to the effect of: “Lots of things Hayekians credit Hayek with are ‘the sky is blue’ statements. Where, no matter where the idea comes from, if Hayek said it Hayekians claim the idea as their own.”

Marris — I am my source. This is a quote I’ve posted many times, and I pulled it from my blog. The original source can be found using Google, entering the text of the quote. The original source is in my files, and the quote comes in the q & after a talk by Hayek at the AEI in 1975.